Study Finds Cell Phones Dirtier Than Toilet Seats

Posted on August 21, 2006

ABC reports on a shocking new study has found that cell phones are dirtier than toilet seats.

New research out of the United Kingdom found mobile phones are a technological petri dish for tens of thousands of germs.
Why? Germs multiply in warm places. Between the heat the phones generate and the germs on faces and hands, you've got a bacterial breeding ground.
"You put it in a warm place, you hold it in your hand, you put it in your pocket like I do, it's nice and warm," said microbiologist Chuck Gerba. "Bacteria like that. It can grow in these types of places."

They also tested phones of the Good Morning America crew. The soundman from the Good Morning America show had the dirtiest phone.

"This is the dirtiest phone I have ever tested," Gerba said. "He has somewhere between 10 and 50 million bacteria on his phone. If there is ever a new life form on this planet, it will be on this phone."

Yikes! Surely, this will make GMA's soundman will disinfect his cellphone from now on. Apparently, Motorola also offers a germ fighting phone for those who are now paranoid after reading this entry.